Norinco M93 Woodsman? Tips or Tricks? What's your experience?

[trebor2880]

Loved mine, very accurate and never a hitch, shooting cheap bulk stuff.
Had to sell because of an impending move, but was lucky enough to find a "real" Woodsman, at a very favourable price on E.E.
This one has a longer barrel, just as reliable and is super accurate.
But really, the way I figure it, the Norinco is worth at least 3 times it's asking price.

 

[swervinmervin]

You bastards!! I read this thread, and then i called Wanstalls...you know the rest

 

[alpining]

Has anyone had problems with light strikes on this?
When it goes bang, it has no problems with ejecting which is great, but on bad days I'm having around 1/5 shots be a light strike.

One thing I haven't tried is removing the firing pin and cleaning that, which is worth a shot, but I'm worried about damaging the gun.

Sometimes it's just ammo. Have you tried a few different brands? 22 autoloaders are generally pretty fickle regarding diet.

If it's not simply ammo related, there are a few things you can do to reduce light strikes. In order of simplicity:

First, clean up the chamber, chamber mouth, extractor cutout, and breech face. This will help the cartridge to seat firmly and consistently when feeding (provides a solid base against which the cartridge rim is struck). Second, you are correct to think of cleaning the firing pin channel in the slide. Not trivial to disassemble, but not terrible, either. While you've got it apart, you can really help things by polishing the firing pin itself (including the rear "blade" part), as well as the firing pin channel. Third, you can boost the efficiency of the mainspring by polishing the mainspring channel and the mainspring plunger so that less spring tension is wasted due to friction. You can also increase mainspring tension by dropping a small spacer into the mainspring channel in the mainspring housing (needs to be "just the right size" for your pistol).


Of course, you can do all of these things to improve your pistol even if you don't have light strikes...
(love these things!)

 

[Hitzy]

But really, the way I figure it, the Norinco is worth at least 3 times it's asking price.

Wait....you think these are worth $500+?

 

[Woodeneye]

You bastards!! I read this thread, and then i called Wanstalls...you know the rest

Should have done what i did and call Frontier firearms and only pay $169 instead of $199....thats a brick of .22 shells in savings.

 

[paininthe10]

Clean the crap out of it when you fist get it and use federal ammunition. Mine was very selective on what you fed it and federal was the only one that worked flawlessly..

 

[trebor2880]

Wait....you think these are worth $500+?

Sure do. Norinco's rule!

Whatdo you get from SIG, for that price...a Mosquito?

 

[alpining]

Should have done what i did and call Frontier firearms and only pay $169 instead of $199....thats a brick of .22 shells in savings.

Glad you're happy with yours! For the $30 difference, personally I'd rather have both magazines that are supposed to come with the pistol.

 

[Woodeneye]

Glad you're happy with yours! For the $30 difference, personally I'd rather have both magazines that are supposed to come with the pistol.

Ahaa.i see

 

[IM_Lugger]

I had one for a couple of years. Great gun for a what you pay, I ended up selling it to fund a GSG 1911 .22 which has better ergonomic and more fun to shoot, but M93 is just as accurate (if not more) and I'm sure would outlast the GSG.

 

[Hitzy]

Loved mine, very accurate and never a hitch, shooting cheap bulk stuff.
Had to sell because of an impending move, but was lucky enough to find a "real" Woodsman, at a very favourable price on E.E.
This one has a longer barrel, just as reliable and is super accurate.
But really, the way I figure it, the Norinco is worth at least 3 times it's asking price.

Sure do. Norinco's rule!

Whatdo you get from SIG, for that price...a Mosquito?

You can get a pretty sweet Ruger MKIII for that, a GSG, M&P22, etc....people like norks cuz they are cheap to buy. Even in this thread, there is like 40% or more that had issues with the gun. Easier to swallow on a $170 beater then if you paid $500 for it!
If norks were even double the price they are now, they would be sitting on dealers shelf collecting dust......with the exception of the M305 as there is currently no comparable priced product there.

 

[Derp]

On another note, I recently acquired an M93 and was wondering if there are any options for installing a base. I would love the added fun factor with a red dot.

Any ideas?

 

[swervinmervin]

Ahaa.i see

Thats the research i did too, Frontier is $204 with 2 mags, not the most honest business practice, but buyer beware.

 

[blueskies]

I bought an M93 from Reliable Gun in Vancouver. Put about 200 rounds through it with a fair amount of feeding and failure to fire issues. Then the trigger broke. Don't know what's wrong with it but it won't budge. I took it back to Reliable and I'm waiting to hear what they are going to do. Last time I buy a cheap Chinese knockoff. I should have bought a decent gun to begin with like a Ruger 22/45 or an M&P22. I'm hoping Reliable will let me trade up. My advice is spend the extra couple of hundred bucks and get a quality pistol.

 

[alpining]

I bought an M93 from Reliable Gun in Vancouver. Put about 200 rounds through it with a fair amount of feeding and failure to fire issues. Then the trigger broke. Don't know what's wrong with it but it won't budge. I took it back to Reliable and I'm waiting to hear what they are going to do.

Sorry to hear that your gun broke. I trust that Reliable will take care of it pronto. If not, try North Sylva, the importers. I'd be surprised if they don't repair or replace the pistol to your satisfaction. If they don't, please post the result here.

Last time I buy a cheap Chinese knockoff. I should have bought a decent gun to begin with like a Ruger 22/45 or an M&P22. I'm hoping Reliable will let me trade up. My advice is spend the extra couple of hundred bucks and get a quality pistol.

I just bought a new S&W from a CGN sponsor that has chronic ejection problems, two magazines that fail to drop free, and atrocious accuracy. Should I say "That's the last time I buy a cheap American original production item, should have bought a decent gun to begin with like a X or Y or Z"? No, I'm going to see what happens with warranty service. No mass-production gun is perfect 100% of the time. The real question is "What kind of support do you get when you buy one of the lemons?" Best wishes with your warranty process.